Page 140 of Eternal

DAMIR

Present

I slipped my hands over her eyes from behind.

“Guess,” I said near her ear.

She smiled instantly, playful. “Paris.”

I sighed, still smiling. She’d been watching Casablanca way too much lately, it was getting out of hand.

“Right. Because I’ve mastered teleportation now.”

“You should learn,” she said, arms crossing over mine, not trying to pull away. “Would be useful.”

“Sure. First I’ll learn to fold time, then I’ll take you to Paris for real. But for now…”

I slowly took my hands away.

“It’s not Paris,” I said, “but it’s something I think you might like.”

She blinked as her eyes adjusted, the park was quiet, lit only by old lampposts and the wide-open sky. There was a single swing set at the edge of a hill, and past it, the city lights blinked low and far away. We could see the stars from here so clearly.

She didn’t say anything for a second.

Then she smiled, brightly. “It’s perfect.”

She kicked off her shoes before walking toward the swings, letting the grass touch her bare feet like she wanted to feel everything tonight. I followed slowly, hands in my pockets.

“Lay down with me,” she said once she dropped into the grass.

So I did. We lay there, shoulder to shoulder, and I glanced sideways at her as she stared up, the kind of look people only have when they don’t realize they’re being watched.

“Do you know her?” she said, pointing up. “ Andromeda .”

I raised a brow. “The constellation?”

“Mhm. Yeah. When I was in Vesper, I saw Zanae’s tattoo. On her thigh, it was this constellation.”

“What’s the story behind that name?”

“She was chained to a rock by her family,” she said, a little too casually. “Sacrificed. Left for a sea monster.”

“Sounds intense.”

“She was saved,” she added after a beat, like it mattered more than the violence behind it. “But that’s not what made her special.”

I looked over. “Then what did?”

She turned her head slightly, meeting my eyes in the dark. “She endured.”

Something about the way she said it made me quiet.

She didn’t need saving.

She wanted someone who knew what it felt like to be left on the rock. Who didn’t look away from the chains.

“My mom used to tell me she’s in the sky next to her lover, this one, right here, Perseus.” She points at the faint, shimmering stars beside the brighter ones. “That they were bound forever. People only talk about her beauty… never her endurance.”

I reached for her hand without thinking, and laced our fingers together on the grass between us.

“I like her,” I said.

She smiled at the sky. “Me too.” Then she whispered, almost like she didn’t want me to hear, “I think I want to see what happens… if I stop surviving and start staying.”

My chest tightened.

She didn’t say anything for a while, she laid there beside me, our fingers laced, our breathing synced. Then she turned toward me, slowly, and curled into my chest.

Her arms slid around my waist. She buried her face under my collarbone.

“Thank you,” she murmured, “for this pre-birthday night.”

I kissed the top of her head. “Don’t thank me, I’m happy that it makes you smile.”

She pulled back and looked up at me, “ You make me smile”

“Stop flirting with me, partner ,” I said, smirking. “We’re in public...”

She shook her head, stood, brushing the grass from her legs. “Come sit with me,” she said, nodding toward the swing.

I got up, followed her, and sat beside her on the second seat.

The chains creaked as we moved under the stars. She looked out over the city, then tilted her head back to the sky.

“I can see it too, now,” she said.

I glanced at her. “See what?”

She turned her face toward mine. “A future.”

I held her gaze. “Am I allowed to be in it?”

She smiled softly. “If you keep being a good boy.”

I leaned closer, lips near her jaw. “I’ll be the best boy.”

She laughed, quiet and real, and we kept swinging. And she kept laughing every time she’d go up, closing her eyes like her whole life wasn’t worth the pain as long as she was here.